(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says he would like Congress to establish a "truth commission" this fall, to investigate allegations of illegal interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists by the Bush Administration.
Leahy says it’s critical to find out which Administration officials authorized the procedures.
VPRs Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) Leahy proposed this commission earlier this year and he says the release of a new report by the Inspector General of the C.I.A., highlights the need to move forward with his plan.
The report listed numerous examples of coercive interrogation techniques in the C.I.A.’s overseas detention centers.
Following the release of the report, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to look into the allegations and to determine if a full blown investigation is needed.
Leahy says his proposal for a Truth Commission is targeted at the members of the Bush Administration’s legal team:
(Leahy) "It seems it’s awfully easy to go and get the corporals and the privates. I’m far more interested in the person who gave the order in the first place…those are the people who are sitting secure in their offices. They’re not facing threats, they’re not in the field. But they’re telling people to break the law. They’re the ones that I’m concerned about."
(Kinzel) The C.I.A. report does conclude that, in some cases, harsh interrogation techniques did yield valuable information that uncovered potential terrorist plots.
Leahy says it’s likely that conventional techniques would have produced the same or better information:
(Leahy) "They talk about how effective water boarding is. You remember they were saying ‘well, you only have to do this once and boy you get everything you want’ – one of the people they water boarded what 130 times,138 times? Come on! How effective was that? So if something came out, did it come out anyway near as well as it could have otherwise."
(Kinzel) Leahy says the establishment of a Truth Commission would also help restore the image of the United States across the world:
(Leahy) "Here’s the down side. Those pictures from Abu Graib – the reports that came out of torture – became the biggest recruiting technique that Al-queda had throughout the Middle East."
(Kinzel) Leahy says the Truth Commission needs to be non partisan and several former members of the U.S. Supreme Court have been suggested as possible leaders of the panel.
For VPR News I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.